Congratulations to Mairead Wallace-Pigott of Millstreet Veterinary Group who today took over the Presidency of Veterinary Ireland, from outgoing President John O’Rourke.

In the Veterinary Ireland press release she: said that as a profession, vets need to promote prudent use of antibiotics. “To this end, we need to be diligent in prescribing or supplying antibiotics only to our own bona fide clients, where we have full in-depth knowledge of the animals and their environment and an ongoing working relationship with the owners.”
Need to Sustain Rural Practice: The incoming President said that as a mixed practitioner, she would like to work towards finding ways to sustain rural practice and the veterinary infrastructure (both human and capital) necessary to serve our communities.
“The sustainability of these practices impact not only on the services we can provide for our farmer clients and pet owners in rural areas, but also on the provision of jobs for our new graduates so that we can retain the professions greatest asset, our young well educated vets. These young vets need support, mentoring, a good work /life balance and a realistic salary when starting out. To this end I would like to see co-operation between neighbouring practices and/or amalgamation of practices to provide a better working environment, economies of scale and life balance for all. I have personal experience of being part of a practice amalgamation in 2000 and it was one of the best things we ever did.”
“Veterinary Ireland represents vets involved in all aspects and areas of veterinary medicine as well as those involved in the various streams of clinical practice. As President, I would like to see better recognition of the vets’ role in food safety, animal welfare, public health, research, academia and business,” said Ms. Wallace-Pigott. [read more …] “Mairead is the new President of Veterinary Ireland”